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Gundogan admits he nearly joined Barcelona

03 March at 11:20

Manchester City star midfielder Ilkay Gundogan has admitted that he nearly joined Barcelona before he ended up at the blue side of Manchester.

The 27-year-old German midfielder joined Manchester City in the summer of 2016 from Borussia Dortmund for a 20 million pounds. While he did struggle with injuries early on, but Gundogan has now become an ever-important organ of Pep Guardiola's table-topping Citizens. This season, he has made 20 Premier League appearances, scoring twice and asssiting once.

In an interview with Sport Arena Plus(via Marca), the midfielder revealed that he came very close to joining Spanish giants Barcelona before he ended up signing for City in the summer of 2016. Gundogan said: "I was very close to signing for Barcelona, but in the end, it did not happen. But now I am where I want to be and I'm very happy."

He also admitted that he loves both Pep Guardiola and former Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp. He said: "Klopp loved me, but I decided to go to Guardiola because his philosophy was very similar to my game."